(The Yoga of Liberation through Renunciation and Sacrifice)

2. The Blessed Lord
said: "Some seers refer to Sannyasa as the renunciation of all
actions rooted in selfish desire while other Wise ones regard Tyaga
as the abandonment of the fruits of all action.

3. "Some Wise men declare that all actions necessarily contain a
certain measure of evil and must therefore be given up, while others
hold that acts of sacrifice, charities and austerities should not be
given up.

5. "Acts of sacrifice, charity, and penance should NOT be given
up and must continue to be performed for all these activities are
capable of purifying even the wisest of men.

6. "However, these actions ought to be performed without any
attachment, and totally abandoning the fruits thereof; this, O
Partha, is My dictum.

7. "Verily, the abandonment of duties enjoined by the scriptures
is improper; such renunciation is born out of ignorance, and is
Tamasik.

8. "He who abandons action, deeming it painful and for fear of
straining his limbs, will never reap the benefit of abandonment,
since such sacrifice so-called is Rajasik.

9. "But when a prescribed action is performed with sincerity, a
sense of duty and devotion, besides renouncing both attachment as
well as the fruits of action, then such an action is called
Sattvik.

10. "The Wise man imbued with Sattva, whose doubts are fully
resolved, and who further has truly relinquished, neither shrinks
from action because it brings pain, nor courts it because it will
lead to pleasure.

11. "It is indeed impossible for an embodied person to renounce
action completely; but he who renounces the fruit of action can be
considered as having truly sacrificed88.

12. "Disagreeable, welcome and mixed - threefold is the fruit of
action that accrues after death to those who have not given up
attachment; but there is none whatsoever for the Sannyasi.

13."Learn now from Me, O Mahahahu, the five factors as taught in
philosophy, which are contributory to the accomplishment of
action.

14. "The physical body, the doer, the senses, the effort and the
last of all, Destiny;

15. "These are the five contributory factors associated with all
actions, be they right or wrong, which a man performs with the mind,
or using the body, or through speech.

16. "Such being the case, the perverse and foolish one who,
through clouded reasoning regards the taintless Atman/Self
as the doer, neither understands nor sees.

17. "He who is free from egoism, whose intelligence is not
tainted, even though he slays these people, does not in fact kill,
and is not bound89.

18. "The Knower, knowledge and the object of knowledge together
form the threefold impulse for action, and the doer, the action
itself and the instrument, are its threefold constituents.

19. "Depending upon the Gunas, knowledge, action and the doer are
each of three kinds; hear thou about these, as described in the
science of the Gunas.

20. "Know that knowledge to be Sattvik, whereby one sees only the
one Immutable Entity in all the beings of the Universe, that is, a
unity in diversity.

21. "Rajasik knowledge, on the other hand, makes one merely see
diversity in this manifold Universe.

22. "But that knowledge which, totally missing the essence,
clings without reason to one single superficial perception as though
it were everything, is nothing but Tamasik.

23. "Turning next to action, that action which is ordained by the
scriptures, which is performed without any attachment, without
desire or hate, and also without any yearning for the fruit, is
Sattvik.

24. "But that action which is prompted by a craving for the fruit
as also by selfish and egoistic thought, and further is carried out
with great strain, is Rajasik.

25. "That action which is blindly undertaken regardless of one's
ability or without heed to the consequences, including loss and
injury, is declared to be Tamasik.

26. "Now to the doer; that doer is Sattvik, who is free from
attachment and ego, who is endowed with steadfastness and zeal, and
is unaffected both by success as well as failure.

27. "That doer is Rajasik, who is driven by the desire for the
fruit, is passionate, greedy, violent, impure in thought, and torn
between joy and sorrow.

28. "And that doer is Tamasik, who is not disciplined, vulgar,
stubborn, knavish, dishonest, indolent, despondent and
procrastinating.

29. "Hear now, O Dhananjaya, as I explain the threefold nature of
the intelligence87, and of conviction91, based on the Gunas.

30. "That understanding, O Partha, is Sattvik which can
discriminate between action and inaction, which knows what ought to
be done and what ought not to be, which can see the difference
between fear and fearlessness, and between bondage and
Liberation.

31. "Partha, that understanding is Rajasik, which has a distorted
perception of righteousness92and unrighteousness93, as also what ought to be done and what ought not to be
done.

32. "But that understanding, O Partha, which, enveloped in
darkness, manages to see Adharma in Dharma
and vice-versa, and in general promotes a perverse view of all
things is nothing but Tamasik.

33. "That conviction is Sattvik which, steadied through Yoga,
maintains an unbroken harmony between the activities of the mind,
the vital energies94,
and the senses.

34. "Arjuna, that conviction is Rajasik, which immerses a person
in the desire for the fruit in all aspects of life, not only those
connected with the acquisition of wealth, worldly possessions and
worldly enjoyments, but even with virtuous living.

35. "And, O Partha, that conviction is Tamasik, which prevents a
person from shaking off his inertia besides promoting fear, anxiety,
lassitude, conceit and grief.

36. "Joy or pleasure also is similarly threefold, and hear now
from Me, O Bharatarishabha, about the happiness that comes out of
spiritual practice, and which puts an end to pain.

37. "That happiness is Sattvik, which to start with seems like
poison but becomes nectarine in the end; such happiness is born of
the serenity that results from Self-realization.

38. "That pleasure which at first seems nectarine because of the
play of the senses among their objects but which later turns to
poison, is Rajasik.

39. "And that so-called happiness derived from sloth, indolence,
inertia, lethargy and folly, which besides, is also perpetually
deluding, is said to be Tamasik.

40. "There is no being, either among men here on earth or among
the gods in heaven,
who is free from these three Gunas born of Prakriti.

41. "Parantapa, the duties of [the four castes], Brahman
as, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Sudras have been
apportioned consistent with their intrinsic nature95.

42. "Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness,
uprightness, wisdom in theory and practice, and faith in God
- from these flow the natural duties of the Brahmana.

43. "Valor, spiritedness, firmness, resourcefulness, courage in
battle, generosity and the capacity to rule, all these shape the
natural duties of the Kshatriya.

44. "Tilling the soil, cattle-rearing and trade are the natural
callings of the Vaishya, while service is the natural duty of the
Sudra.

45. "[Whatever be his caste], each man, by the sincere discharge
of duties consistent with his intrinsic nature, attains the highest
[spiritual] perfection. Hear now how perfection may be achieved by
such sincere adherence to one's natural duties.

46. "Indeed, the highest perfection may be attained simply by
dedicating to Him Who is all-pervasive and Who is the fountainhead
of all beings, all the actions which one performs as a part of one's
natural duties.

47. "Superior is one's own duty96though uninviting, than that of another better discharged; for
he who performs the duty ordained by his own nature, incurs no
sin.

48. "One should not abandon, O Kaunteya, the duty to which one is
born, imperfect or blemished though it might seem. Indeed, all
undertakings are beset with imperfections, as fire with smoke.

49. "He who has weaned himself away from attachments of all
kinds, who has perfect self-control, who is free from desire,
attains by renunciation, the Supreme State of freedom from
action.

50. "Learn now from Me in brief, O Kaunteya, how having reached
this perfection one also attains Brahman,
the supreme consummation of Knowledge.